Chapter 16

Written by Ian Shirm: Dec. 5, 2007

Spring 3256

Progress in Ponthurst

            The cold chill of winter had subsided and spring was upon the city-state of Ponthurst. Much had transpired over the long Southern Del’goth Winter. The Temples to Draxis, Palaxis, Claudia, Feldan, Victor and Lavina had been completed. The Archer-Infantry army reserve academy in Penbridge had been completed, as well as the Ironfist University, also in pen bridge.

            A silver mint and the Ponthurst city bank had been constructed in Dunbridge. Dekari had both of them built and was using the silver production for coinage to pay City expenses. Dekari also used the bank as the cities treasury, keeping what remained of the Kulan treasury there.

            Over 2 million people left Kulan, most relocating to the Bronze Republic, while 240,000 came to Ponthurst. With the large influx of population Kane raised the city guard from 140 to 700, 100 per district, to manage the raise in crime that came with the rise in population. General Dredskif raised the Infantry by 10,000 bringing the army to 25,000, and raised the Army Reserve, the archer-infantry by 20,000, bringing it to 45,000. As the weapons factory and armor factory produced the arms, Commander Draven’s Ironguard, Ponthurst Heavy Infantry, rose another 5000, bringing the force to 10,000.

            Over the winter, 10,000  Haraxis Mountain Dwarves with 40,000 laborers had worked on the city wall which still wasn’t fully completed in the spring as it was a monuments project. The Temple to Paial, which was to be over a half mile across, was also still under construction, with the living quarters partially completed monks and paladins had come from the temple in Rockport, also a Del’goth city, to live in the temple, which was in the Stockborough district.

            The lines between the districts were becoming less and less defined by populated areas, as buildings, homes and businesses, were constructed connecting the districts.

            Aiken, Director of Bordertown and Chairman of the League of Seven Districts convened the council once a week. The League had written up a code of laws which the Ponthurst city guard had to know by heart. A Jail had been constructed in Pontdale, the district north of the Albinus valley and Atilus river.

King Dekari vs. King Noto

            King Dekari, General Dredskif and Commander Draven met in the large town hall of Bordertown in the second week of spring.

            “Refugees from the south bring with them news,” Dekari said. “There is no longer a unified multi-national force in Kulan. The Black Minotaur king Noto Bloodrunner is the sole king of Northern Kulan, The two Blood Elven Kings, Kanlihn ro'Fistil Zyualesti of Westfyrd and Fisik ala'Malas Sheretharal of Gorwyn have split contol of the Coral Isle, King Jupiter from the desert nation of Redrock has southern Kulan while King Firmin Ryynim controls central and eastern Kulan. If we invade northern Kulan and defeat the Minotaur warlord Noto we could expand the lands and might of Ponthurst.”

            “Our army is stronger than it has ever been,” General Dredskif Bolthorpe said. “We would need to leave the entire Army Reserve, the archer-infantry, to protect the city while we could march our 25,000 infantry and our 10,000 heavy infantry on the northern territory. If we could attack and conquor Noto’s lands in a quick campaign he wouldn’t have the time to call for, or utilize reinforcements from his former allies.”

            “Before we bring war to our southern neighbor,” Draven said. “I would suggest the creation of an archery unit to accompany the army. Archer support could be used to great effectiveness to weaken the minotaur lines before they fight our infantry.”

            “I can draw an Archer unit from the Archer-infantry corps,” Dredskif said. “Currently the archer-infantry are outfitted with short bows. I would suggest outfitting about 2000 of them with longbows before they join the march south.”

            “I’ll go to the trade guild here in Bordertown and purchase the longbows,” Dekari said.

            “How long until you plan to march our army south?” Draven asked.

            “As soon as the longbows are in,” Dekari said.

            Three weeks later Dekari, Dredskif and Draven mobilized with 25,000 Infantry, 10,000 Heavy Infantry and 2000 Archers. The combined force of 37,000 men left the large city of Ponthurst marching south to Dunland, the capital of Noto’s Territory. A long line of hundreds of wagons followed the Ponthurst army as they marched south carrying enough supplies for the beginning of the campaign. Broken down Trebuchets, packed in wagons, Catapults, and siege towers trailed the slow moving army. Dredskif had ordered the siege equipment to be brought with them as Fort Northguard would likely be difficult to storm.

            The going was slow. The roads leading south to Fort Northguard and the city it protected, Dunland, were muddy from the spring rains, the wagons having a hard time of it. The army marched down the roads, through Noto Bloodrunner’s territory, traveling the hill country of what had been Northern Kulan. The Army marched during the day and camped at night, dusk giving the wagons and siege equipment the opportunity to catch up.

            Dekari’s organization of the army into groups of 100 men, led by a centurion, thus enabled the army to fight in independent groups of 100 men. Dekari based his organization of the army on that of Kulan, as that had been what he had known growing up in the conquered  land of Kulan. Every night when the army made camp the foot soldiers build earthen and wooden defenses around the camp to defend while in enemy territory. In the army there was a unit of 100 scouts on horseback, who reported often to General Dredskif of their findings. At any given time 20 or more scouts acted as vanguard, riding ahead of the army and returning with reports of travel conditions, enemy movements, and anything that might interest Dredskif.

            After traveling a week, The Ponthurst Army came out of the hill country and entered the Damaticus plain, the army moving easier over the flat land. Three days into traveling the plain a scout came from the south to report to Dredskif of Noto’s army both being aware of their presence in the territory and marching north two days travel from the south. The Scout guessed them to number 15,000, while fighting with 2:1 odds the fighting would be fairly equal in that Minotaur were fierce fighters. The Infantry of Ponthurst had the advantage of being very disciplined while the army of Noto was disorganized and undisciplined, relying on fury rather than a carefully executed battleplan.

            The two days travel estimated by the scout had ended up being one until the armies met, as they marched towards each other. Breaking camp the Ponthurst army marched the second morning to meet Noto’s army on the battlefield.

            The longbowmen unit of 2000 made the first lines with the 10,000 Ironguard  behind the longbowmen in thick rows, ready to advance past the archers once the enemy grew close enough. The 25,000 regular infantry stood in many thick lines with their wooden shields, spears and swords, behind the Ironguard Heavy infantry.

            Noto stood, larger than most of the other Minotaur, the black skinned minotaur stood with a two handed longsword, covered in furs with 15,000  red skinned minotaur behind him. The Minotaur horns of war sounded and Noto at the head of his army charged across the field towards Dekari’s Army.

            “Prepare Volley,” Dredskif ordered, his officers relaying the command to the Archer unit.

            The archer unit had the advantage of longbows rather than recurve or short bows, which had a much greater range.

            “Loose Volley!” Dredskif ordered, two thousand arrows sailing through the air at the charging minotaur.

            “Knock Arrows!” Dredskif Ordered, a moment later yelling “Loose Volley!”

            Dredskif had the archers fire a third and last volley then fall back behind the Ironguard and behind the regular infantry.

            The Lines of Minotaur, wearing hide armor and wielding all manner of weapons crashed with the lines of the heavily armored Ironguard Heavy Infantry. Wearing large, bronze, round shields, steel breastplates, steel leggings, steel armguards, horse-hair-crest helms and red cloaks the Ironguard attacked with their longswords, or if so inclined their footmans maces, a shortsword each as a backup.

            Dredskif rode his Clydesdale to the regular infantry and ordered the 25,000 strong force to split in two groups, one breaking left and one breaking right to attack both sides of the mass of bloodthirsty Minotaur.

            Dekari and Draven fought at the front lines, side by side with the Ironguard. Dekari in full platemail with his enchanted broadsword ‘Justice’ in his right hand and a large, bronze, round shield in his left hand. Draven wielding his longsword in his right hand and a shortsword in his left fought beside Dekari.

            Seeing the King of Ponthurst, Noto killed his way across the battlefield until he came within 20 feet of Dekari. With two minotaur between himself and Noto, Dekari cleaved a leg of one, as it crashed to the ground he crushed its throat with his heavy boot then drove his broadsword into the side of the other minotaur, twisting the blade and yanking it out violently, blood spraying across himself and Draven.

            Noto swung his massive blade down at Dekari, the Paladin brought up his broadsword deflecting the blow. From behind Dekari, Draven threw two throwing knives, both sticking in Noto’s chest, the hits appearing to Draven to only make the Minotaur Warlord madder. Dekari swung his light blade ferociously forcing Noto to fallback, as it was harder to parry with such a large blade. Noto and Dekari exchanged slashes and the minotaur and ponthurst soldiers alike gave them room. With a desperate horizontal swing, the Minotaur king was growing tired. Instead of pressing a full attack Dekari fought defensivly and saved his energy while Noto tired. With a wide swing Noto lept towards Dekari, ducking under the swing Dekari stepped forward, brought up the tip of his broadsword and buried the blade in Noto’s stomach. Dekari let go of the hilt, drew his hunting knife and sliced the Noto’s throat. As Noto fell backwards, Dekari grabbed onto the handle of his broadsword, and Noto’s fall pulled his dead body from the blade.

            When a black minotaur is born it is of great religious significance to their kin the red skinned minotaur. Looked upon as a religious symbol the death of a black skinned minotaur, as Noto was, was looked upon by his soldiers as a bad omen. Those who saw were panic stricken and fell back with the utmost urgency. Soon word of Noto’s death passed through his whole army and fear gripped the force. Ironguard in front of them, and the regular infantry on their left and right the minotaur had to fight just to flee, many being cut down as they tried.

            Dredskif gave the order and had his army disengage from the battle, allowing the leaderless foe to escape. The Ponthurst army took few losses as the battle hadn’t lasted lasted long after Noto’s death and the destruction of his army’s morale. Dredskif also gave the order for the army to collect everything of value from the battlefield and load it onto the wagons in the supply train.

            Dredskif had the bodies placed in a pile and burned, that night the Ponthurst army made camp a few miles down the road.

            The next morning the army awoke and after breakfast continued marching south, on the Damaticus plain towards Fort Northguard and the city it protected, Dunland.

Fort Northguard and Dunland

            Over the following week the Ponthurst army came across several small towns with minotaur garrisons. With the arrival of the army, the minotaur garrisons of each town fled, the citizens of the towns, having been used as slave labor cheered as Dekari’s army and looked to them as liberators. News of Noto’s death spread across his territory and crushed the morale of the Minotaur occupiers.

            As the week came to a close Dekari’s army marched along the southern road reaching Dunland, which sat in the shadow of Fort Northguard. The large city was teeming with Minotaur who worked the plainsmen population hard as slaves. Upon seeing the Ponthurst force, the commander of the minotaur forces in the city had the garrisoning force take the field and prepare to launch an attack.

            Minotaur being a proud race, chose not to withdraw to the fortress, instead they emptied the fortress and formed rough lines with their entire force on the north side of the city, leaving some in the city to control the thousands of slaves therin.

            In thick lines, the Minotaur, numbering near 20,000 sounded their horns of war, the deep tone they produced filling the mid-day air. Dekari, Dredskif and Draven sat upon their horses at the head of their army. The Archers stood at the front of the army, with the Ironguard behind them and the regular infantry behind them.

            “Ironguard!” Dredskif yelled. “When the archers fall behind you use your crossbows before melee weapons.” His officers relayed the order down the long line of foot soldiers.

            The Minotaur charging, Dredskif waited until they were in range and yelled “Loose Volley!” Two thousand arrows flying through the sky into the rushing lines of the Minotaur.

            “Knock Arrows” Dredskif ordered, followed by “Loose Volley” a moment latter, the arrows thining the front lines of the minotaur.

            The Longbowmen fired two more volleys into the ever-thinning ranks of the minotaur before he ordered them to fall back behind the Ironguard and behind the regular army infantry.

            Through use of the longbowmen, with 4 volleys from 2000 archers the front lines of the Minotaur were thinned giving the Ponthurst force the advantage in the beginning of the battle. As the Minotaur grew ever closer the Ironguard fired at selected targets with their crossbows, Once the enemy grew close enough for melee the Ironguard raised their shields and swords and met the enemy. Though tall and muscular the Minotaur lacked armor and they fought against a long line of shields, swords and spears loosing many. The Heavy Infantry was at a distinct advantage, wearing armor that could be described as partial platemail.

            “Advance!” yelled Dredskif, who like Dekari and Draven dismounted and fought beside the Ironguard.

            The Ironguard pressed forward with the advance, protected by large shields and heavy armor they cut down the undisciplined minotaur who fought as a mob not in organized lines. Though they took heavy losses the pride of the Minotaur kept them from retreating though they were taking heavy losses. As one Ironguard soldier fell there was one behind him to take his place in the line and so the Ponthurst force kept its strength.

            The battle was an hour of heavy fighting which left the minotaur army decimated. The Ironguard, followed by the regular infantry and the archers pushed the force back into the city and continued fighting there, where the enemy had left some of its force to control the plainsmen slave population.

            After they had won on the field and in the city, Fort Northguard loomed on the hill, scarcely defended it none-the-less stood as the last line of defense the Minotaur had.

            “Master, Master.” An old man, covered with rags who had his arm and one of his legs broken said to Dekari. “There is a way inside the fortress.”

            “Oh?” Dekari said

            “There is a secret underground passage that leads from the catacombs under the city to inside the fortress.” The old man said.

            “How do you get inside the catacombs?” Dekari asked.

            “The Temple to Feldan has a well in its courtyard,” The old man said. “The well has a ladder leading down and from there you follow the torches until you get to an underground bunker inside the fortress walls.”

            Dredskif, who had been sitting on his Clydesdale beside Dekari ordered his Infantry to go to follow him. He dismounted and followed by Heavy and regular infantry alike walked to the large temple of Feldan. Once inside he found the well and first a few, then dozen then hundreds of men entered the well.

            Inside the long underground hallways Dredskif led his men down corridor after corridor, following the torches until he came to a room that was lit by sunlight. A grate at the top of a stairwell let light into the room, when Dredskif looked through the grate he saw a few Minotuar talking.

            Dredskif pushed open the grate, climbed out of the room to see a large garden in the middle of the large fortress. Heavy and regular infantry flowed from the passage and took the fortress, killing all the minotaur defenders.

            That night Dekari held a celebration for the victory over the fortress and city garrison and allowed the more than 50,000 people who were slaves to eat from the supply wagons.

            Dekari sent a messenger back to the city of Ponthurst with a note to Aiken asking for 20,000 of the Archer-infantry to come to Dunland to garrison the fortress and protect the city as well as asking Aiken to draft another 20,000 archer-infantry from the population of Ponthurst to replace the men.

            Dekari stayed in Dunland and reestablished order. He saw to the needs of the people, feeding, clothing and housing them. After 16 days 20,000 of the Army reserve arrived and got established as the acting garrison there. Dekari ordered the 20,000 to cut down trees and build a wall around the city of wood and earth. The old barracks from when Kulan governed the city was still standing the 20,000 made use of it.

Carrickbury, Penbridge, Border-town, Dunbridge

Aberstead, Pontdale, Stockborough,

Dekari: Paladin(Governor)

Weapons: Broadsword (Justice), Shortsword, Warhammer, Medium Crossbow

Aiken: Thief-Cleric (Director/Judge of Bordertown) (playful, intelligent, Anger problems, )

Weapons: Longsword, Gladius 'Retribution', Throwing Knives, a Recurve, Hunting knife

Armor: Bandmail

Draven: Thief(Commander of Ironguard) (intelligent, loyal, Reserved, Disciplined, Alchoholic, philosopher, poet)

Weapons: Longsword, heavy recurve, throwing knives (12), hunting knife

Armor: Studded leather

Dredskif: Fighter(General of the Army) (Blunt, Vulgar, Proud, Arrogant)

Weapons: Two-Handed longsword, Large Mace, Machete(2), longbow (24) arrows

Armor: Hide Armor

Kane: Ranger (Captain of the Guard)(Quiet, Reserved, Disciplined, Good-Natured, Optimist, Idealist)

Weapons: One-Handed Longsword, shortsword, Heavy Recurve WarHammer, 

Armor Band Mail

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